I have always been a fan of Star Trek, and intrigued by some of the possibilities presented in the original and even Star Trek NG. Interesting how some of the things that seemed farfetched, now are not. One that always fascinated me was the black hole; little did I think we would experience it in selling, specifically when using e-mail.

We all wonder when we hit that send button “what will happen with this e-mail?” Will it reach its desired destination will it invoke the desired reaction, what reaction will it initiate, what will its fate be, ignored, read over and over, create action? Hard to tell in the black hole that is e-mail.

Sure, you can ask for a “read receipt”, so what, the is still an information void because all you know is if the opened it, you don’t know if someone read it more than once, where, if they read it on their phone or office or both, or if there is any interest. For salespeople, this creates “prospect paralysis” because they don’t know whether to follow up and, if so, when and how.

But recently I discovered a tool that helps me have a better grip in the black hole. ContactMonkey, a new smart email tracking service for Outlook and Gmail that tells me in real-time if, when, how many times and where a message is opened, as well as what device or browser was used.

Armed with this knowledge, a salesperson has valuable and actionable insight to make better and more informed selling decisions and actions, so they can focus on the most promising prospects and opportunities.

The idea for ContactMonkey emerged when Scott Pielsticker, a serial entrepreneur, was frustrated with not knowing if his sales pitches were getting read or were resonating. To solve this problem, ContactMonkey’s developers created the software, which was recently launched.

Here is an example, a seller fires off an e-mail to a prospect. After the email has been sent, the salesperson will be able tell if and when the email has been opened, which is a great starting point. The more the message is opened, the more interest someone likely has in the proposal.

But there’s even more insight that can be gleaned. Where was it read, what device was it opened on. ContactMonkey allows you to know if a message was opened on a mobile device, within the Chrome browser or Outlook. If an email is originally opened on an iPhone, and then opened on Chrome or Outlook, it could mean the e-mail and or any attachments generated solid interest.

The same approach works for location. An email opened by recipients in Toronto, Boston and London is another indication of good interest. Especially if you are working with prospects with decision makers in multiple locations, as it makes its way around you gain insight.

For salespeople, this information makes it easier to focus on better prospects interested in their email, while they can quickly ignore or reformulate plans for prospects that paid little or no attention to their email.

For “warm leads”, you can figure out the best time to follow up. If there’s a lot of interest in a message in a short period of time, the salesperson can strike while the iron is hot — knowing that they will likely get a good reception.

ContactMonkey allows you to add a new layer of intelligence to email so salespeople — and other people who want to know if their email attracts any interest — can work better, more productively and close more deals.

I speaking with the team, they tell me they are planning to add a dashboard to let people take a holistic view of their email activity to extract key trends and best practices.

If you are a seller and you want to get more out of your email, check out ContactMonkey and see how it can help you Sell Better.

About us

Tibor Shanto is a 25-year veteran of B2B sales, Tibor has developed an insider’s hands on perspective of successful sales execution. Called a brilliant sales tactician Tibor shows organizations and sales professionals how to leverage their sales process to shorten sales cycles, increase close ratios, and create double digit growth through execution and using the right combination strategy, tools, metrics, tactical execution of the sales process.